My giant milkweed has exploded with monarch caterpillars again. They look to be close to their final instar, if not the final instar. Their gorgeous green chrysalsis will be appearing soon.
Beautiful site
Reply
Tag Archives: Southwest Florida butterfly garden
Rain kissed garden
According to the local news, Southwest Florida is experiencing its greatest drought in 8 years!
It was such a welcome sound to hear the rain coming down this morning, kissing the garden. It did not come down long, but it was an awesome downpour. With the overcast sky, the ground hopefully will stay wet for a while, giving the roots time to soak up the much needed moisture.
Here’s just a few of the butterfly nectar plants.
The orange-barred sulphur caterpillars were also active on my cassia tree. There are tons yet again munching away.
The great
The great southern white caterpillars have reappeared in the garden. I left the pepperweed growing in the garden. Some that I found growing in the yard, I dug up and plainted in pots, as it is the host plant for this butterfly. I am happy to say some are still green and doing great.
A celebration of sorts
Today my daughter and I began our first butterfly garden many years ago not knowing what kind of passion it would evolve into over the years.
Here is one of our favorites, a gulf fritillary, one of the first to visit our first garden, and since has been a constant visitor. It is always one of the first to flutter into the garden every morning to find its breakfast.
Today it’s preference was the variety of pentas that I have in the garden.
More Eggs
The polydamas swallowtail has been a regular visitor these past few weeks. They are swift flyers, making them hard to capture in photographs while flying. Well, today, out of 143 photographs, I was able to pick out quite a few that made me smile.
The polydamas, also known as the gold rim swallowtail, tailless swallowtail and scientific name Battus polydamas lucayus, lays its eggs on the Dutchman pipe. This is the only swallowtail that lacks the tails at the base of the secondary wings, according to the University of Florida.
This species can be found throughout peninsular Florida, as well as in the Florida Keys. There are some that wander as far north as Missouri and Kentucky.
The polydamas lays yellow to orange eggs in clusters of 10 to 14, which can typically be spotted on newly developed stems, or growing tips, of the Dutchman pipe. The butterfly tends to lay its eggs on the Dutchman pipe that are in sunny areas, although the caterpillars have a higher survival rate in the shade.
The polydamas swallowtail in the photographs below is laying eggs on one of the two birthwort plants in the garden. Right now this plant is thick with lots of growth, while my three Dutchman pipe are needing time to grow back from the last set of caterpillars.
